Renault Renaldo Duncan (April 23, 1904 – September 3, 1980), better known as Duncan Renaldo, was a Romanian-born American actor best remembered for his portrayal of The Cisco Kid in films and on the 1950–1956 American TV series The Cisco Kid.
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Biography
Early years
Renaldo told some interviewers that he actually did not know where he was born. The prosecution in his immigration case entered into evidence a copy of a birth certificate forwarded by the Romanian consul stating that he was born in Oancea, Romania, as Vasile Dumitru Cugheanos, the natural son of Dumitru and Teodora Cugheanos. Renaldo claimed in his defense that he was born in Camden, New Jersey, and only later raised in Romania as Basil Couyanos by people whom he sometimes referred to as "mother" and "father", but at other times by their Christian names, Demetri and Theodora.
Renaldo claimed never to have known his biological parents and to have been raised in several European countries. He emigrated to America in the 1920s. He claimed Romanian nationality when he took a job on a French freighter and entered the United States in 1917, registering as a foreign seaman; in court records, he claimed that this occurred four years later in 1921, but the prosecution produced evidence that he was listed as a coal passer on the S.S. Puget Sound in 1917 and first entered the United States when this ship landed at Baltimore, Maryland, that year. Failing to support himself as a portrait painter, he tried producing short films. He eventually took up acting and signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1928, where he worked in at least two major films, The Bridge of San Luis Rey and Trader Horn. In January 1933, Renaldo was sentenced to serve two years in federal prison and fined $2000 on conviction of falsely claiming American citizenship, falsifying a passport, and perjury, but he eventually was pardoned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and returned to acting.
